Šarratum Circle
The Šarratum Circle is a large grouping of cultures and societies, located on a series of islands within Lake Yaju in the south of Higashi. These peoples share a common trait in their language, with all of its member societies speaking a variant of Šarratian. The other common trait shared with all of them is their primary isolation from the rest of the world, with limited to no contact outside of the Circle, meaning that various societies may share traits with each other within the Circle. Besides these two shared characteristics and traits which may be shared between a small number of them, however, the Šarratian Nations, as they are called, are varied, with different forms of organization and culture, though they can be split into two primary groups. They are grouped together as one nation by most of the world, however, because they typically act on a large scale as one, and come together against outsiders. This has resulted in a cultural misunderstanding, as most citizens of the Šarratian Nations view themselves as belonging to a given tribe or group, while the rest of the world sees them as a single entity. The Circle is mostly isolationist, with largely closed borders and a lack of information or action from the inside reaching the outside, but maintain diplomats in several other countries, though these are normally forgotten due to their general lack of action in affairs. Culture In the analysis of Šarratian cultures, a primary concern is the need to distinguish between the overall culture, and non-cecaelian culture. While all societies have some different traits or aspects of culture, most of the cecaelian societies share a large number of traits, as they are all under the culturally dominant force of homoececaelian culture, which diffuses throughout the societies. Non-cecaelian societies, on the other hand, may in some cases share a few traits with ccaelian societies that have leaked in, but for the most part are otherwise separate, and share only a few mutually developed traits with other non-cecaelian societies, being in large part unique. Slavery While forced labor exists in many of the more primitive non-cecaelian societies, typically carried out on prisoners, the Šarratum Circle's cecaelian societies have turned slavery into not only the singular biggest aspect of its economy, but also into a nearly monopolized industry. The slave industry is run almost solely by the Cartel a government-affiliated group, though still nominally independent, which oversees the production and distribution of slaves. This organization is intertwined on a deep level with the government, with many higher-ups involved in both to a degree, and tends to work with the government on all matters of import, and vice-versa. Šarratian slavery, as it is known, is unique not only in its industrialization and monpoloziation, but also in the nature of its basis, and in the creation of its slaves. The Cartel is based on island close to the volcanoes at the center of the Circle's Core, known as the Slavemounts. Via a number of skilled mado users, the original Šarratian slaves, entombed under each volcano in a magic-caused stasis that allows them to provide magic while not aging or needing sustenance, the volcanoes' various forms of activity have been brought under control, and enhanced in a particular way. People, provided by the societies of the valley islands due to an aspect of their society that believes being chosen by the volcanoes for slavery is an honor, are sent to the volcanoes and wander about a number of paths for a day, after which the volcano will have completed its cycle. This cycle consists of the various forms of activity being conducted, and whichever person is caught in them at the time is considered to have been chosen by the volcano. The enhancement of the activity via mado has caused the volcanoes to affect anyone marked, as all comers to the island are, with a specific symbol in a different way from others, whom it kills. Those marked are instead changed by the volcano's activity, both physically, marking them as a slave, and internally. Those caught in the bursts of superheated gas and ash, which erupt from small cavities in the volcano located on its lower and middle sides, and less frequently higher up, are stained permanently red and black of a sooty and ashy variety, and the mado that caused the activity affects them, causing them to gain innate talent for a general field, allowing them to become superior slaves. Each volcano of the primary seven, called the greater Slavemounts, has a specialty, with one producing warriors, another creating various craftsmen, and so on, while the three lesser ones end up producing a wide variety of slaves with unique or odd skills. The higher up on the side the cavity is located, the more talented a created slave is. At the upper slopes, larger crater-like depressions mark lava-holes, where lava will emerge from and travel down depressions, causing those touched by it to gain burnt-black skin with blood-red streaks and swirls on it, giving them knowledge and experience of their skill, rather than simply an untapped talent. At the very peak of each greater Slavemount is a small circular hole, smaller than a hand, which shoots up irregularly, rather than daily like other events, and turns victims pitch-black with flame-like markings, and leaves them with an identical hole through the center of their chests. These people are the most valued slaves, and possess great prowess in their skill, exceeding both the innate talent of the lower slaves and the unused experience of the middle slaves, with a top war-slave being capable of defeating five elite bodyguards in battle. Technology The Šarratum Circle, despite being in many areas a sophisticated nation, is thought of as primitive and undeveloped, due in large part to the sterile nature of Šarratian technology, which is almost entirely at a low level. While it possesses some innovative replacements for the fields filled by technology in other areas, it lacks most modern technology found in other regions of the world. In its place, they have evolved a number of natural resource-using systems, most relying on the unique nature of Šarratian minerals and animals, due to the Circle's isolation from the rest of the world. These different systems have been termed the "cecaelian sciences", because of their similar nature to technological sciences. The most notable examples of these are the reactive minerals, which produce a certain effect under given circumstances, used for various applications in a large number of Šarratian societies, and the "fish technologies" of the peripheral non-cecaelians, at the edge of the Circle, who use different fish for economic and technological purposes, due to the variously beneficial traits of consumption. Communication between those higher in society and government is facilitated by special "nodes", orbs endowed with mado that allow messages to be sent by writing a letter and dropping it on one node, sending the text to the surface of another. The nodes appear to be able to replicate the letter if authorized personnel touch the sides of the node with their palm http://s4.zetaboards.com/MooBoards/single/?p=8029627&t=8208911 Arts In most of the cecaelian cultures within the Šarratum Circle, the highest art form is that wielded by the ratakkadī, a term loosely translated as "I, the founder of a regime". This terminology denotes the way in which they consider a well-crafted ratakkadār, the term used for the piece itself, as something capable of moving mountains in terms of influence, and as something within and shared by everyone, noted by the usage of the "ī", a special suffix referring to oneself, used within this word even when referring to another person. A ratakkadī is best described as a mixture of a poet, a politician and a public speaker. The ratakkadār is a speech-poem composed in a very specific manner and organization, based off of the art of rhetoric, which exemplifies an argument, typically on a philosophically or morally deep matter, but sometimes on a more practical matter held important by the speaker, the crafting and deliverance of which is considered a high art. The composition of a ratakkadār is strictly formulaic, although the greatest ratakkadārs are those by the higher-level ratakkadī who have gained enough reputation to manipulate the form of the speech itself as a device for their meaning. The standard form for a ratakkadār is as follows: an argument via logos or logical appeal, following a typical two-part organizational scheme of dispositio, comprised of a statement and proof, which in turn comprises the exordium and narratio of a larger six-part dispositio scheme which lies throughout the entire speech, followed by an argument with pathos, or emotional appeal, in which the divisio and confirmatio stages of the dispositio are utilized, and thirdly an argument in ethos, or appeal via character, which must have been established beforehand but not utilized openly until this stage, which typically takes the easily identifiable form of either eunoia, arete, and phronesis, during which stage the audience is invited to criticize or refute his work, and the ratakkadī responds, completing the dispositio with the final steps of confutatio and peroratio. The art of the ratakkadār is based upon five principles, which are used for appraisal and categorization of a ratakkadār. These are dispositio, the argument's organization, which is inorporated directly into the speech; inventio, the topic and method of discovery of the topic of a ratakkadār, found in large volumes of suitable topics, which must be chosen for a speech to be considered a true ratakkadār; memoria, the principle of knowing the foundations and points of an argument, as well as relevant subject matter, which must be used during the final stage to refute criticism in order to establish authenticity; pronuntiatio, the principle of controlled voice and motion during a ratakkadār, different styles of which are taught in the different schools of ratakkadī; and elocutio, the principle of correct style and writing, which was judged based on which of three categories the speech was meant for: subtile, robusta, or gravis, in order of prestige, and also is used as the principal for the accepted words and grammatical rules of the ratakkadār, which are documented and are often radically different from those of typical everyday language. Language Writing While original written Šarratian utilized the basic alphabet in writing, and is still used by the majority of speakers, causing it to be considered the "true" written form, a cuineiformic system was developed during a time period five to eight hundred years before the current time. It is a non-phonetic script, and is only used in correspondence between higher-class individuals or official archive records. It is composed mostly of triangles. The number of triangles signifies the caste of the word (lower, common or noble), and the arrangement gives a specific word. Arrow-like symbols separate bases from prefixes or suffixes, and diacritics are shown in deviation, color-wise, from the typical black text color, with many intricate shades developed. Grammar The unifying language of the Circle is Šarratian, which is spoken in some capacity by every society in the Circle, though some variants are exotic and difficult to understand even by those fluent in Šarratian. Šarratian is notable for being extremely difficult to learn, both practically, as the Šarratum Circle is isolationist and jingoistic, as well as technically, due to its high complexity and situational modifications. Šarratian grammar is highly intricate, placing it amongst the most complex lingual systems in the known world. It follows a word order of Object Verb Subject, a highly rare word order in which the object of a sentence comes first, proceeded by the verb which is followed by the subject, as in the sentence Rannašar Nokavilan Tarrakād, meaning The thief kills a noble. In this sentence, the object is Rannašar, the verb is Nokavilan, and the subject is Tarrakād. The language also follows a triliteral root system which forms the base of its word classification, with different sequences of consonants, typically three, called a triliteral, or less often a biliteral or quadriliteral, characterizing the general overall meaning of a word. The vowels placed between these determine the full base of a given word, distinguishing between words with the same sequences. These word bases give a more specific meaning, though still rather general. In tarrakād, the triliteral sequence is t-r-k (doubled consonants are voided in sequences), signifying a term related to criminality. The more specific tarrak is a base which specifies to any variant or different part of speech form of "thief" (noun), such as "to thieve" (verb) or "thieving" (adjective). The suffix determines the part of speech variant, with three different categories for suffix attachment, dividing words based on their social level in the society which originally created the language, separating words into lower, common and noble categories. Tarrak, being in the lower category, takes an -ad suffix to signify noun status, while the diacritic over the "a" is used to show its placement as a subject in the sentence, with other diacritics annotating other declensions. The diacritic is placed over the first letter of the suffix, denoting the end of the base. As thief is the default noun form, no prefix is needed, but a word is extended frontwise for non-default variants of a word in the same part of speech, such as thievery or theft. If a word does not have multiple forms, a ''-ū'', a vowel-accent combination used nowhere else in the language, is placed at the end of the word, denoting its singularity in its base. A quirk of Šarratian linguistics is that the object of the sentence is considered to be the agent of the sentence, or in simpler terms, the object is understood as the noun carrying out the act. In the above example, Šarratian identifies Rannašar as the agent, placing the noble as the one carrying out the act of being thieved from. This can also be understood as a flipping of passive and active voices, making the normal passive into the active, and vice versa. Another oddity is that, in place of varying the verb form itself to signify tense, a short word is placed directly before the verb, an "a''" flanked on either side by an identical accent next to it, producing a distinct sound which verifies the tense of the following verb to a listener. Conjugation of verbs is done similarly to noun declension, using diacritics. This and other critical uses of accents to change meaning are part of the difficulty of Šarratian. Geography The edge of the Šarratum Circle's jurisdiction is just outside of Lake Yaju, in neutral territory that is claimed by both they and neighboring territories, although the dispute is considered a moot point, and it is rarely openly disputed. A number of small settlements are located in this territory, and welcome visitors, although they tend to highly discourage entry into the Circle, commonly not permitting further travel. The lake itself is the true Šarratum Circle, with the peripheral ring, or outer ring of the Circle, located significantly closer to the shore than the rest of the islands, although still some distance into the lake. These peripherals are non-cecaelian, and are amongst the least directly controlled of all the islands. They are less isolationist than the inner islands, and are known to sometimes trade with outsiders. Some distance within the peripheral is the inner Circle, marked by a line of islands encircling the less symmetric array of islands within it. This ring, known as the concentric ring, is the true barrier of isolationism, letting almost none pass, and legally enforcing the expatriation of any who manage to reach the concentric despite heavy discouragement in the outer areas. Within the inner circle, islands are arranged in no particular manner, and the center, known as the core, of the Circle contains tightly packed islands, then several miles of open sea, with valley-like islands invisible except from the sky between them and several sparse isles that hide a precisely centralized chain of volcanoes. Societies Scholars typically organize Šarratian societies into two categories; cecaelian and non-cecaelian. Cecaelian societies refers to those Šarratian societies which have become mobile and established large amounts of contact and relations with other societies within the Šarratum Circle, so called because all of those societies, no matter how otherwise isolated, are under the more unified rule of the Homocecaelian people, a society of partial cecaelian humans originating in the center of the Circle which has taken power. Non-cecaelian societies are less mobile, typically less active in larger events and somewhat unaware of the outside world, which are still under the control of the Homocecaelians, which are dominant throughout the entire Circle, but do not think of themselves as members of a larger nation, and are mostly left to their own devices. Cecaelian societies tend to be concentrated in the core of the Circle and the outer ring, while the inner ring of the Circle, excluding the small core, is full of non-cecaelian societies. Homocecaelian The dominant society of the Šarratum Circle is that of the homocecaelians, originally based on an island near the center of the Circle, which overtook a large grouping of islands in that area, which are now collectively part of homocecaelian society, and influenced a large number of other cultures, integrating its culture into the natives' own. The homocecaelians are a humanoid race descended from direct hybrids of humans and cecaelia, an octopus-like race. They are the most powerful culture and society in the Circle, and have direct control over a large portion of the most important venues. Military Similar to their technology, Šarratian military is less advanced than those of other nations, using a less technological approach to warfare. Their lack of heavy mechanics is not a dire issue to them, because of their infrequent forays outside of their own territory, and the difficulty of brining anything of that type larger than a small gun across the lake, especially due to Cecaelia attacks on armed convoys on the lake. Their armed forces mostly consist of either warriors from tribes, which they call together when necessary, or a smaller force that join up in the actual army. They call upon city guards in times of war as well, which also act as riot police in less violent times. Their two primary forces that they call upon are these riot police, which are also trained for combat, and several specially trained units of government agents, sent for foreign operations, known colloquially as Terrorist Cells. The riot police act as city guards, normal police, and suppressors of riots and violence, acting in the capacity of all three as the situation requires. Their primary weapons are swords, staffs and metal bolas, but they have a number of less conventional tools available to them. These include a number of subduing substances, as well as their most famed asset; their signature capsaicin spray and grenades. These are based on capsaicin, a chemical found in chili peppers, which are grown for this purpose, that causes pain and often temporary incapicitation. The highest level of this has been modified by the government to be at a much higher level than standard spray, and can cause major issues in victims. The Terrorist Cells are teams made of highly-trained agents of the government, ranging from smaller units of five to ten people to the deployment of large networks of over a hundred. They are foreign-operating units comprised of specialists, often including grandmaster ratakkadī who are skilled at undermining a government or rousing support for a rebellion, and are often accompanied by a small force of guerilla fighters under their command. These cells interfere with the infrastructure of the enemy, often utilizing terrorist-like tactics and causing confusion, as well as kidnapping important figures and assassinating some to create fear and deprive the enemy of important figures. They also make heavy use of instigatory tactics, undermining government and causing rebellions, and well-trained groups are highly feared for their ability to detach cities or regions from nations. Behind the Scenes The name of the Circle comes from the Akkadian word for ''King. The Šarratian language is based off of a semitic triliteral root, with the overall sound styled after the Akkadian language. The idea of different peoples being chosen for specific roles comes originally from the race-based hierarchies in colonial Latin America and other places, but in this case was inspired, though the content of this page itself is solely the author's own, by the works of Brandon Sanderson. The nature of their technological state was inspired by both the economic and technological applications of magic in Brandon Sanderson's books, and by the biotechnology of the Yuuzhan Vong race of Star Wars. The Terrorist Cells' methods were inspired by the Zapatista movement in Mexico and the ETA. Category:Thepantheon Category:Nation